


Charisma Check

by 2towels



Series: Shut Up and Roll the Dice [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dungeons and Dragons, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Can be read standalone, DnD AU, Dungeons and Dragons, First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M, dnd, fav tag, it's very cute, keith is the dungeon master, lance and keith's characters are basically married, noob makeout, you do not have to read the series to understand this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-12 17:49:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11166948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2towels/pseuds/2towels
Summary: Before a full thought could come to their dungeon master of the night, Lance's soft lips were pressing gently against Keith's own mouth, slightly ajar. It was brief, a soft and hesitant press before it vanished, but it was enough to send the both of them into a gentle euphoria. Neither had even closed their eyes, it was so short."Keith! Party's arrived!" Shiro called up the hall, interrupting any question on Keith's tongue. Lance was smiling a wicked smile, one that played the corners of his lips like magic and crinkled his lower eyelids into pleasure almost contagiously.--Alternative title: Keith Is Terrible at ThisThey finally move forward in their real life relationship, probably.Can be read as a stand-alone fic.





	Charisma Check

"So the main goal," Lance iterated carefully, reaching across Keith's lap to grab a map at his other side, "would be to get them here." In his hand he clutched a zoomed in photo of a specific section of their map.

Keith took a deep breath. "Yeah. Falcon's hollow is a quiet little place that's going to be the source of all the mist because it's by that river." When Lance straightened again it was with a strange expression Keith was sure he was mirroring somehow. "I couldn't figure out what the river's name officially was because all of the map scans are blurry, and Coran didn't have it."

"Oh." Lance said, a suddenness in his voice as he twisted and Keith gave a hard swallow at watching his lanky movements. He reached across the floor they were seated on in Keith's bedroom and grabbed at his backpack among the scattered papers and books. "Coran  _did_ have our specialty power juice." He sang, pulling a thick water bottle from one of the bag's compartments. Inside the clear plastic was a familiar sludgy syrup, almost inky black in color and sparkling with pearl sprinkles tossed within.

"You made a space juice run?" Something lurched in Keith's chest, oddly warm, as he scoffed. The current guess for how Coran made the addictive stuff was every flavor packet of Kool-aid known to man combined with sugar and a little water, adding sprinkles to bring home the visage of all those murky colors blending together. It was garbage, but only Hunk and Shiro actually refrained from drinking it at their Dungeons and Dragons meets. It was a staple by then and according to the rest of the group.

"I had to stop by anyway to pick up the guides you would need," Lance pointed out, flipping the cap off and taking a sip from the bottle, "and it's nt a session without our space crack."

Keith reached for it as Lance made a passing motion, noting, "You really are addicted." When he glanced at the character sheets lying in front of his crossed legs, he thought to ask, "Are you sure you don't want to narrate with me? You helped me come up with everything, so it's only fair. It's sort of cheating that you know everything, anyway."

"Eh," Lance shrugged noncommittally, "Azulle needs the experience to keep up with Red." He sounded like he was lamenting particularly, but moved on before Keith could fully wonder about the tone, "Besides, Falcon's Hollow is where he's from. Family time, am I right?"

Keith thought on that, shuffling his papers until he was looking at Red's inventory carefully. Before he could comment on his own, Lance slyly added, "Would have been a perfect place to propose."

"Your family would be crazy to propose in front of. It would take them hours to stop screaming." Keith muttered, inexplicably warm as he pushed his bangs out of his face.

Lance's gaze followed the action. "Yeah," He huffed a laugh, "but you're going to, right?"

"Well, obviously." Keith smiled, glancing at Lance. They both froze simultaneously at the mock confession, but Keith was hasty to thaw and cover his tracks, "Red...will, I mean."

"Right." Lance breathed slowly.

A doorbell sounded, and they both jumped as they heard Shiro's footsteps pad through the hall. Lance began shuffling books and papers together for Keith before he got the memo.

"We should...Yeah, I've got to get everything together." Keith agreed to the silent proposal, shifting his weight so he could get to his knees and stand. "No spoiling the adventure for everyone else tonight."

Lance mused in response, "It would be so, so easy to." He offered Keith one last sip of the space juice before it became a hot commodity among their dungeon team, and Keith accepted it gratefully before snapping the bottle closed. As he looked up, bottle outstretched, Lance was there.

Lance was close.

The lankier of the two boys took the bottle from Keith's hands carefully, his entire body leaning well into the realm of personal space, and Keith audibly choked with Lance's face so close to his own so suddenly.

Before a full thought could come to their dungeon master of the night, Lance's soft lips were pressing gently against Keith's own mouth, slightly ajar. It was brief, a soft and hesitant press before it vanished, but it was enough to send the both of them into a gentle euphoria. Neither had even closed their eyes, it was so short.

"Keith! Party's arrived!" Shiro called up the hall, interrupting any question on Keith's tongue. Lance was smiling a wicked smile, one that played the corners of his lips like magic and crinkled his lower eyelids into pleasure almost contagiously.

Keith could feel the redness of his face, ears, neck, and life. His mind was a chaotic mess without focus, but before anything could reach a cohesive line of competency, only vividly reinventing the kiss within a dreamscape, Lance was already stepping away with the space juice in his hand and a grin as he left the room.

He could hear the commotion of their party settling at the dining room table they all crowded around, but Keith was stuck until somebody else had called his name. Matt, he thought, with a laughing tilt in his voice. They were waiting for him, the dungeon master, to come out of his room and conduct himself appropriately. To craft a story worthy of their time. Lance was out there waiting for a story worthy of his time, one that he had helped create, and expecting Keith to conduct himself appropriately. Lance was out there with lips just as soft as Keith imagined and a golden smile, and Keith was on fire.

His door opened, revealing a suspicious Shiro. "You alright?" He asked, almost gently, and Keith could feel the older man's gaze shifting carefully over all of Keith's own red features.

"Fine." Keith replied automatically, ducking his head at how strained he sounded and gathering up the last of the books that had been left on the ground. "I'm...coming. I'm coming."

His brotherly roommate wasn't convinced. "Are you sure?"

"I'm coming." Keith repeated, nodding to himself and awkwardly trying to shoo Shiro from the doorway. He left with a shrug and raised eyebrows, and Keith took two long moments to take deep, calming breaths. He could do this. Lance just kissed him.

He just kissed Lance.

If Lance and him could kiss, he could definitely, unquestionably do this.

 

* * *

 

"Keith. Keith, I rolled a nat twenty."

A sharp snapping brought Keith out of his daze, and he looked around almost wildly, ignoring the thin wrist in front of his face. "What?" He asked immediately, looking quickly down at his notes and checking his current enemy roster's initiaves again.

Pidge retracted her hand with a scowl, shifting in her seat. "I rolled a twenty. I'm attacking the fire toad Lance is trying to tame." She ignored the following grumble, "My dagger did four damage."

"Okay. Right." Keith said, shaking his head again and scribbling down the process. "Azulle doesn't need any more pets to send back." He remarked, "The fire toad makes a disgusting squelching frog roar and turns away from Azulle's beautiful kind face to bellow up and get ready to attack Foxglove."

"Cool." Lance said, watching Keith carefully, "Cool."

Their dungeon master's eyes were back on Lance as soon as the simple word had left his mouth, and he looked a little dismayed. The flush still high on his cheeks deepened as his wide eyes flicked away again and Keith cleared his throat. Lance, though endeared, was frustrated and dying. From the adjacent side of the table, Hunk and Allura were whispering and looking almost exasperated.

"Uh...Wemb?" Keith said carefully, glancing over his screen, "It's your go."

Matt looked oddly sympathetic as he rolled a sixteen. "Nice, I'm throwing a hand axe at the toad attacking my poor, dear sister."

"Shut up."

"And it did a crucial five damage."

Keith nodded fractionally, "The fire toad is dead. There is nothing remaining attacking the party. Next move?"

"Um. What do we get from the fire toad, Keith?" Allura rose her pen, waving it a little to make sure inventory was accounted for.

"It's-It's a fire toad. Do you loot the fire toad?" Even as the words left Keith's mouth, he knew the answer, as their party was an unfortunately greedy one when it came to hoarding loot.

"I pull my dagger out and harvest its eyeballs." Pidge decided, nodding at Allura.

Keith huffed, "Fine. Anything else?"

When Lance spoke up again, Keith stiffly whipped his head to him, and their eye-contact was absolutely and unfortunately electric. "Azulle pulls out that masterwork longsword Red forgot to take back and carves the legs out so Saffron can make a nice home cooked meal for them all. Two fire toad legs."

Allura looked like she approved, and scribbled the notes down diligently.

Keith swallowed, and Lance narrowed his eyes. "Okay." Keith nodded for what seemed like the millionth time and took a deep breath as they broke their gazes from one another.

 

* * *

 

When the table packed up, it was with an uncharacteristic verbal silence. The only sounds around them were binders clipping and books closing, and Keith and Lance hadn't moved an inch since they had declared the end of the night.

Allura, as she sorted inventory silently in her notebook, watched them with a critical eye before interrupting all knowing thoughts in the room. "It was a good run, Keith. I'm excited to see what you've come up with."

"I agree." Shiro said automatically, "It was good, I'm glad you decided to DM."

Keith cleared his throat and huffed a laugh, pointing out, "You decided for me, Shiro."

"Ah, well, still." With a final glance around the table, Shiro shrugged and left his things where they were. "I'm going to bed, I have work in the morning. It was nice having you guys over." He was all smiles to each party member as they waved him off to his retreat, though when his gaze passed over Keith it was crooked and knowing, and Keith was critically aware of that fact.

Pidge and Matt left next, no word of complaint coming from Pidge for the first time after a campaign in a very, very long time. She simply focused on her phone as she scrolled through it idly, waiting for Matt to get his wreck of a folder together by the door and saluting when they were off. Hunk glanced after them and nodded to Allura, who rose her eyebrows and left immediately following with a wave to everyone and a promise to bring more space juice the next week since she had learned Coran was, in fact, willing to do to-go orders.

"So, Lance," Hunk said when nobody else would, "you wanted to show Keith that movie, right?"

Lance looked up to his standing best friend with bright, adoring eyes filled with gratitude. "Uh, yeah I did." He said immediately, not missing a beat, and he glanced to Keith with an excited ferocity.

Their dungeon master's screen was still up around him, though when his attention was grabbed, he seemed to finally realize everyone was truly gone and he didn't need to focus so intensely anymore. Unseen knots loosened in his shoulders, and he slid a little in his chair to slouch more as he closed a few books. "What movie?" He asked, clearing his throat and trying not to look to Lance again.

Hunk smiled and bid his own farewells, leaving Lance to his now-planted scheme with pride swelling in his chest.

"It's a surprise." Lance said definitively, standing and shoveling his papers together. When he was done making a small pile of his things, he grabbed the cardboard screen from Keith and folded it quickly, beginning to gather his papers for him as well. "Pull up your Netflix in your room, you're not getting rid of me tonight."

After the self-invitation had left his mouth, Keith's hands stilled over the books and he shifted to stare up at Lance. In the background, the door closed and Hunk left with Lance's ride. "Yeah?" Keith would never admit the crack in his voice, "Okay." Lance's smile was radiant.

It only took a few minutes for them to shove the papers into a haphazard pile enough for them to be safe from Keith and Shiro's cats knocking them off, and they practically flew back to Keith's room once it was completed. Lance let himself in first, making kissy sounds in passing as they stepped over a sleeping Kerby outside of Shiro's door and flopping onto Keith's bed.

Keith tried not to be as shakey as he was, pressing his remote buttons with a violence through impatience to get the bright red screen up and loading. Lance made a pleased sound and rolled over to make room on the bed as Keith approached, and Keith was absolutely, positively gone.

"Why did you want to show me this?" He asked when he finally saw the movies loading and handed the remote to Lance. It was an effort in vain as he tried to avoid looking at Lance's laying frame while he himself got comfortable, as every time Lance even shifted his arms he was drawn to the action like a moth to a flame. Still, Keith kept an appropriate distance between them, not wanting to assume anything by the way they'd earlier been pressed to one another. It was brief and there was no room to predict anything from it, but Lance had smiled so beautifully, and his eyes had been so warm...

"...so I was thinking, uh...that it was funny? And you like...weird stuff I guess." Lance was floundering, and Keith realized he'd zoned out watching him, just as he had completely intended not to do. When he fixed his eyes on the screen again, the text above the loading grey screen read  _The Secret Life of Pets_ .

Lance's palms were disgustingly damp as he set the remote down and discreetly wiped them on the sheets beside him. He could barely even think on the movie he'd chosen, it being the first one he'd seen and recognized on the screen, and he could only rationalize the strange pick with the notion that they wouldn't be watching it anyway. Hopefully.

Keith was embarrassingly focused on the screen, eyes unwavering, when Lance glanced over to gauge his reaction. Confused, but refusing to back down, Lance swept up the unmade blankets from the end of the bed and threw them over their laps together, shifting to sit right beside Keith at the headboard, enough so that their arms were continuously pressed against one another. He heard Keith take a deep breath, and couldn't help but suck one in himself.

His immediate assumption was that Keith was nervous, which was...not what he expected, but fine, so he knew if he was going to do anything, or make any move with his big dumb crush on the boy, he was going to have to go slow. So, when thirty minutes of the movie had passed without a hitch, and Keith's stiff muscles had relaxed into the bed as they watched or pretended to watch animals parade around the screen, Lance shifted his arm and slowly, gently draped it across Keith's shoulders. When Keith tensed again, Lance settled it as carefully as he could, watching the other boy regardless and waiting for his reaction. Seconds passed, turning into minutes, but Keith didn't so much as glance away from the screen.

Lance, frowning, curled his arm a little around the back of Keith's shoulders, pulling the boy in closer at a softer angle. Still, Keith did not glance away from the screen, though Lance could see the strange angle of his lips, uncertain but not unwelcoming, and the draw in his brows as his gloved hands moved to rest gently between the two of them.

When Lance lifted his arm, Keith's eyes shifted from the screen a fraction but avoided looking at Lance himself, instead flicking to his shoulder and moving right back to the movie. Immediately, with less of a subtlety, Lance dropped his arm back over Keith's shoulders, pulling him in a little. Keith didn't glance away.

The cycle repeated itself until they were near chest to chest, Lance simply continuously lifting and dropping his arm around Keith's shoulders and upper back, knowing the move was failing but unable to comprehend why it was failing so  _much_ . A deep red had found it's way through both of their faces at the position, unaware of how acutely attentive they were about one another's current behavior. Still trained on the movie, Keith did finally, almost hesitantly, ask, "Do you...want me to move?"

The hands between their chests fluttered, and Lance took the opportunity to move his other arm to rest on Keith's waist and keep their pose. A fleeting second of eye-contact followed, but Keith's face was still turned to the screen. "No, you're fine." Lance said softly, trying to convey his intentions and unsure if Keith was missing the point or rejecting it in a confusing and indirect way.

Keith nodded, both acknowledging Lance's decision and flipping some hair from his face. Lance's thin fingers moved to brush the dark strands from Keith's cheeks still, and when Keith did nothing in reply Lance hesitantly dipped forward, pushing his face into the curve between Keith's shoulder and turned neck, and pressed his lips there softly.

The thick swallow Keith gave was immediate, through the rest of him was unmoving. As Lance pulled away and moved up the column of pale skin with another soft and fluttering press of his lips, Keith's fingers twitched and gripped at the front of Lance's shirt. If that wasn't encouragement, Lance wasn't sure what to take it as, so he kept his work, kissing again, and once more, until he was at the jut of Keith's jawbone, and he delicately scraped his teeth against the skin there.

A full lungs worth of air fell from between Keith's lips, and his face twisted in uncertainty, still trying to focus on the movie Lance seemed to want to show him but failing miserably that that rate. When Lance's lips brushed over the spot he'd just dragged his teeth against, Keith took an uncertain step of sliding his hands gently down Lance's sides. He spread his fingers to mimic what Lance had done earlier to Keith's own sides, brushing gently at the grey fabric there to push it up and away, revealing a sliver or two of soft tan skin.

Lance hummed, tilting his face more towards Keith's own and softly pressing his thumb against Keith's cheek to drag his gaze away forcefully. When their eyes met, Keith could see Lance's own hesitance, and something flipped repeatedly in his chest. Their leaning towards one another was immediate, the both of them capturing each others lips in perfect synchronous harmony and melting to one another's gentle touch. Lance pressed where Keith pulled and vice versa, them tangling hands, hair, legs, and sheets. Heated breaths exchanged easily and fluidly, and when the soft tune of _Lovely Day_ began in the background Lance found himself half over Keith, hands buried in his hair and bottom lip buried in his teeth. Their legs slid against one another slowly as Lance raised himself to look better at the boy, red suiting him so well painted across his cheeks, and a soft hum fell from the higher boy's lips as he kissed him again softly before flopping next to him and flipping over.

Their deep breaths were all that sounded past the movie's credits, them both staring at the starry ceiling above Keith's bed and touching only by their shoulders after something so suddenly intimate.

Keith was the first to try to voice his thoughts, his voice low and cracking softly. “That was...a good movie.” He tried as the Netflix player ended.

Lance ignored that. “Your Leo is crooked.” He pointed out instead, his arm not against Keith's raising to point at the ceiling exactly.

“No it's not.” The other boy defended immediately.

“It is.”

“Shiro helped me put them up.” Keith's shoulder pressed into Lance's harder as the boy shifted to see the constellation at exactly Lance's own angle. “He's an _astronomy_ professor.”

Lance scoffed, “And he messed up Leo, which is...” His words were punctuated by a wide yawn, “...an honest mistake, I'm sure, but it's definitely crooked. Super duper crooked.”

A growl came from Keith as he settled down again, further away this time. Lance thoughtfully mourned the loss of contact with the boy, unsure of what was entirely happening in the grand scheme of things but relaxed enough to not worry about it so much in the grandest of schemes, considering it was well into an appropriate bedtime for the both of them. When Keith turned over, his back to Lance and face to the rest of the room, Lance turned to match him.

Stifling another yawn as he debated, Lance wondered if it would be too far to enforce a makeout and cuddles on the same night without talking things over. They had stayed in the same bed with mild spooning results by morning before, but it was never accompanied by a sense of relationship to tend to, and it was _definitely_ never accented with a kiss or twenty beforehand. Uncertain, Lance's hand laid inches from Keith's back, seeing the steady breaths move through Keith's chest and wondering if the boy was already asleep.

By the sound Keith let slip out when Lance's fingers gently brushed down his spine, he was very much awake. Very much okay with the silent proposition as well, if the deep breath was any inclination. Sparing the other boy of having to consciously initiate anything, Lance feigned sleep easily when Keith glanced over his shoulder, slinging his tan arm over Keith's middle and lethargically dragging the boy as close as possible.

“You fall asleep so fast for somebody who always complains about how hyper you are.” Keith whispered so softly the words might as well had been silent. Lance's only reply was deep, sleepy breaths, his hands fanning out and tracing circles on Keith's stomach until sleep took him genuinely, soft and peaceful.

 

* * *

 

Their awakening was much less gentle. Keith roused midway to a harsh knocking, grunting as the body he had his arms coiled around sat up against him.

“I made bacon.” Shiro's voice called from somewhere, presumably the other side of the door. Keith groaned.

“I'll get him up in a second.” Lance sang back, letting out a soft hum as Keith's head buried into his hip. Shiro, giving no further reply, seemed satisfied with the answer. “Did you hear that, mullet? Get up. Bacon.”

“Mmph.” Keith acknowledged, his hands seeking warmth under Lance's shirt as they stayed wrapped around him. “Don't call me that if you're going to spend half the night with your hands buried in it.”

“ _What_.” Lance's voice cracked in surprise at the jab, shifting his hips again to what Keith could only assume was so he could better face the leech he had obtained. “Maybe if I didn't have to force your attention away from that dumb movie I wouldn't have had to carefully caress your disaster of a haircut to keep you in place.”

“Are you saying you forced me?” Keith asked, confused at the complicated defense and still dazed with sleep. Finally, he sat and rubbed his eyes, only to blink in surprise at Lance's pale expression.

“Did...I? I didn't mean to, like...make you uncomfortable. I thought—that you wanted to....” One of his hands pressed into his chest as he looked away, uncertain and narrowing his eyes as he thought.

“What?” Keith said first and foremost, shaking his head quickly and drawing his arms back a little from their position still around Lance. When he realized where Lance was jumping to in his conclusions, he quickly leaned into the boy's eyesight again to capture his gaze. “No. No, I definitely wanted to...do that.” He breathed.

A deep breath left Lance. “Oh.” He nodded, eyes trained on Keith. They were impossibly bright, even so early in the morning. “Good.”

“Great.”

“Yeah.”

“I could have beat you up anyway, if I didn't want to.”

“Nope.” The soft moment was lost as Lance stood up, “I could take you. Why do we always come back here? We're equally matched at wrestling.”

Keith grunted and stood as well, crossing his arms in defense as his feet grew cold at the uninviting temperature of the hardwood below them. “We're not, but okay.” He snorted, following as Lance petulantly led them to the kitchen, the scent of bacon heavy in the air.

“Mornin'.” Shiro greeted from the dining room table, thumbing through the newspaper for the funnies and drinking coffee-flavored milk. “Bacon's on the stove with eggs.”

“Thanks.” Keith grunted when Shiro looked at him expectantly, pulling out plates for both him and Lance, who sat down at the table and watched with a humor at Keith's enforced hospitality.

Keith distributed the remaining scrambled eggs and bacon evenly, turning to the table and watching Lance's soft smile with one of his own. Shiro, from beside them, looked on intensely and was ignored in his sightseeing. The plate was slid to Lance carefully, and Lance grinned in a way that made Keith's insides flip.

“Do you have orange juice?” He asked as he received a fork with his other hand.

“What are we?” Keith asked back instead, a little rushed and breathless.

From the other side of the funnies, Shiro frantically texted Matt, who would not be up for hours but would need every accounted detail of this embarrassing exchange.

Keith, seemingly having realized his embarrassing flub for a second, found his favorite color in the blooms across his cheeks once more. Lance was blatantly choking on egg bits, eyes wide and slamming a hand against his chest and the table.

 

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY VOLTRON  
> This show lowkey brought me super out of a really bad place, and even with so much terror in the fandom I still genuinely enjoy it and it brings me so much joy when I need it.  
> Thank you, Voltron. ♥
> 
> I finally made them kiss, yay!  
> My tumblr: [I take blurb requests and love talking to people!](http://2towels.tumblr.com)


End file.
